Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Frolic Set For December 5

Visitors will step into a 19th century holiday celebration at the Arkansas Territorial Restoration during its 32nd annual Christmas Frolic and Open House Sunday, December 5, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. Admission and parking for the event are free.

This year's activities will highlight the California Gold Rush and how it affected the lives of frontier Arkansans, particularly during the holidays. The museum maintains four 19th century homes and their outbuildings on their original site in downtown Little rock. Living history re- enactments in each house will offer a glimpse into Christmas traditions and Gold Rush stories of the homeowners, family members and slaves who lived there.

The museum's historic grounds will be alive with activity during the frolic. The Arkansas Country Dancers will teach the Virginia Reel and other frontier-era dances in the Hinderliter Grog Shop, the oldest building in Little Rock. Re-enactments and music will echo from each house anc characters from Arkansas's past will roam the grounds.

At the Plum Bayou log house, visitors can try peanuts and biscuits cooked by Dutch oven expert John Ragsdale, as well as hot mulled apple cider and ginger cake. Women of the Early Arkansas Reenactors Association will demonstrate handiwork, such as finger weaving, tatting, bobbin lace weaving and card weaving in the log house's loom room.

Outside the log house, entertainment will include the Moody Swingers dance group from Moody Elementary in White Hall; storyteller Faye Hanson, who will weave tales of holidays past and the Gold Rush; and Celtic/Ozark instrumental group Lark in the morning. The Early Arkansaw Reenactors Association will camp out and demonstrate pioneer skills, while a nearby living history frontiersman will hawk wares needed for the Gold Rush trip from a covered wagon on Second Street.

Children's activities will include a scavenger hunt of gold items throughout the museum site. Upon completing the hunt, children will have all the items needed to create a 'bag of gold' ornament to take home.

Children may also participate in holiday crafts, such as making pomander balls and bookmark ornaments, and they can try frontier games, such as stilts and hoops. Also, the historic Kris Kringle will roam the grounds and greet children.

Due to construction at the museum's reception center, some former entrances to the Christmas Frolic will not be open. Visitors should park and enter the event at the museum's temporary visitors' center at Third and Cumberland Streets in downtown Little Rock.

The Arkansas Territorial Restoration opens its doors daily to the oldest neighborhood in Little Rock. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Guided tours depart on the hour except noon.

Admission fees are $2 for adults, $1 for senior citizens and 50 cents for children. Tours are free the first Sunday of each month.

The Arkansas Territorial Restoration is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.